Carnet de Voyage: Finding Love in Paris 

Travel notes from the real France. Carnet de Voyage is a weekly personal travel story in France sent in by readers. If you’d like to write a story for Carnet de Voyage, head here for details on how to submit.

Paris and romance are practically synonymous. Books, movies and TV are filled with tales of love that take place in the City of Light. As heartwarming as these stories from the make-believe world may be, real-life stories about finding love in Paris burn into your memory.

This is not my story. This is Barbara and Darryl’s story. A tale of love and romance recently shared over lunch at a popular San Diego restaurant. Barbara revealed that they were headed back to Paris to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They wanted to return to the place where it all began. As the story unfolded, the forks were set down and ears and hearts opened up. 

In the summer of 1973, two people – one a traveling Shakespearean actor and one a speech pathologist in the Bay area – were exploring a new relationship. Twenty-somethings, carefree and full of exuberance, they soon discovered a mutual love of music, the theater and the outdoors. The spark was there.  Serendipity, in the form of cheap airfare to Europe sent them off to the Continent to hitchhike and camp their way through as many countries as they could fit in. They spent their first fortnight in Paris, staying at the Rue de Monge Hotel and camping at the Bois de Boulogne. They toured the must-see sights and enjoyed the near empty streets of the city. Barbara recalled, “Those two weeks were when we fell in love.” 

Anxious to do more exploring, they hit the road, making their way to Antibes on the Mediterranean coast where they both found work on moored yachts. Darryl was offered a lucrative job on one of the larger yachts but turned it down so that the two of them could continue their travels. Adventures in England, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Monaco and the French Alps followed.  

As is often said, all good things must come to an end, and as they headed back to Orly and their departure date their lives were about to diverge. Barbara needed to return to her career. Darryl needed work and had decided to cash in his return ticket and make his way back to Antibes and, hopefully, reclaim that job offer. Heartbroken and in tears, they said their goodbyes. 

Barbara waited at the airport gate for the announcement that she was to board her flight back to America and, possibly, never see Darryl again. Darryl, travelling as a single, now knew of a place where he could sell his ticket and he made his way there. When he arrived, he looked around and set his backpack down only to watch it fall over – its partner backpack that had always held it up these last two months was missing. Darryl stared at the lonely, fallen backpack and, ticket unsold, made his way back to the airport, stopping along the way to make one last purchase. At the gate, Barbara was standing in line feeling inconsolable when she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, there was Darryl, a bottle of Martel in hand, telling her he was not leaving but instead wanted to be with her. The crowd around them had been watching intently and when the two lovers kissed and embraced a loud cheer went up. The bottle was opened and everyone celebrated.  

That afternoon, Barbara said, he made a commitment for us to be together forever and on May 11th the following year they were married. On May 11, 2024 they will be in Paris celebrating a half-century of love and surprises. Here’s to Barbara and Darryl! Here’s to Paris!

Read our other Carnet de Voyage entries here.

Michael Harrelson is a retired “orthophoniste” and has chosen to dedicate his travels almost exclusively to France and, always, Paris. Michael and his wife, Nancy live in San Diego, California. They have explored most of the regions of France and love the small village of Semur-en-Auxois; quiet, beautiful and the perfect place to contemplate the slow moving Armançon River and write.